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Exit...Stage Left
Exit...Stage Left is a live album by Canadian band Rush, released in 1981. A video release with the same name, with slightly different content, was released in 1982 on VHS and later on Laserdisc, and in 2007 on DVD. The album was voted 9th best live album of all time in a poll by Classic Rock Magazine in 2004. Music "YYZ" is extended from 4:24 (studio version) to 7:45 by a Neil Peart drum solo from 2:22 to 5:31. In "La Villa Strangiato", the introductory acoustic guitar solo from the original recording is played on electric guitar, and it's expanded to twice as long with a more high pitched guitar part. This live change is recognized by itunes, on the itunes essential Live Guitar Heroics. Lee sings part of a nursery rhyme and adds a short bass solo near the end of the piece; the liner notes include a translation of his words. Title and cover art The title is from the signature catchphrase "Exit, stage left!" of the Hanna-Barbera pink mountain lion cartoon character Snagglepuss. "The whole title came from a character in an American cartoon called Snagglepuss. He's a great little creature, a lion, and every time there's trouble he flees, uttering 'Exit...stage left' or 'Exit...stage right'. But the fact of the matter was that the album cover picture was taken from stage left. And coincidentally that's the direction in which Snagglepuss runs most of the time." states Geddy Lee. "We wanted to have Snagglepuss's tail on there. You know, 'Exit Stage Left', with a picture of just his tail. Forget it! They wanted all kinds of legal hassles and tons of money." states Neil Peart. An item from each of Rush's previous eight studio album covers can be seen on the cover of this live album. The owl from Fly by Night flies above Apollo, the man in the suit from Hemispheres, who stands next to the woman from Permanent Waves. The puppet king from A Farewell to Kings sits atop a box stenciled with the "Rush" logo from Rush. Next to him is a painting of the Caress of Steel album cover, held by one of the movers from Moving Pictures, with another mover standing behind. Next to this is Dionysus, the nude man from Hemispheres. Behind this scene, the starman from 2112 hangs in the background, next to an "EXIT" sign. This entire foreground scene, shot in Toronto's then-abandoned Winter Garden Theatre, is on the left side of the stage, thus "Exit...Stage Left". Rush's prior live album, All the World's a Stage, is also duly represented via the cover's background image - a photo of a concert in Buffalo, New York at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Both album covers show Rush's live setup without anyone on-stage, including their white shag carpet, which they actually stopped using prior to the release of Exit...Stage Left. Track listing All songs written by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, except where noted. # "The Spirit of Radio" – 5:11 # "Red Barchetta" – 6:46 # "YYZ" (Lee, Peart) – 7:43 (including Drum Solo) # "A Passage to Bangkok" – 3:45 # "Closer to the Heart" (Lee, Lifeson, Peart, Peter Talbot) – 3:08 # "Beneath, Between & Behind" (Lifeson, Peart) – 2:34 # "Jacob's Ladder" – 8:46 # "Broon's Bane" (Lifeson) – 1:37 # "The Trees" – 4:50 # "Xanadu" – 12:09 # "Freewill" – 5:31 # "Tom Sawyer" (Lee, Lifeson, Peart, Pye Dubois) – 4:59 # "La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)" – 9:37 #*I: "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!" #*II: "To sleep, perchance to dream..." #*III: "Strangiato theme" #*IV: "A Lerxst in Wonderland" #*V: "Monsters!" #*VI: "The Ghost of the Aragon" #*VII: "Danforth and Pape" #*VIII: "The Waltz of the Shreves" #*IX: "Never turn your back on a Monster!" #*X: "Monsters! (Reprise)" #*XI: "Strangiato theme (Reprise)" #*XII: "A Farewell to Things" Tracks 1-3 and 8-13 of the original vinyl were recorded in Canada during the Moving Pictures tour, while tracks 4-7 were recorded in the UK during the Permanent Waves tour. Personnel *Geddy Lee - Bass guitar, synthesizers, bass pedal, occasional rhythm guitar, vocal *Alex Lifeson - Electric and acoustic guitars, bass pedal *Neil Peart - Drums, percussion Credits *Andy Rose - Engineer *Barry Ainsworth - Technician *Tim and James - Setup **Tracks 4-7 recorded at The Apollo, Glasgow, Scotland by Mobile One *Terry Brown (as Broon) - Engineer *Guy Charbonneau - Technician *Cliff - Setup **Remaining tracks recorded at The Forum, Montreal, Quebec by Le Mobile *Terry Brown (as Broon) - Engineer *Jack Crymes - Technician *Mark and Hutch - Setup **Remaining tracks also recorded by Record Plant Mobile *Paul Northfield - Mixing engineer **Mixed at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec *Bob Ludwig and Brian Lee - Mastering **Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine *Hugh Syme - Art direction, graphics, cover concept *Deborah Samuel - Photographer *Ian Melhuish - Puppet King *Ray Danniels - Management **SRO Productions, Inc., Toronto *Howard Ungerleider - Road manager, lighting director *[[Jon Erickson|Jon (Mushy) Erickson]] - Concert sound engineer *Michael Hirsh - Stage manager *[[Liam Birt|Liam (Calculator-Head) Birt]] - Stage right technician, crew chief *Skip Gildersleeve - Stage left technician *[[Larry Allen|Larry (The Green Shrav) Allen]] - Center stage technician *[[Tony Geranios|Tony (Jack Public) Geranios]] - Guitar & synthesizer maintenance *Greg Connolly - Stage monitor mixer *Ian Grandy - Security chief *Lee Tenner - Projectionist *[[Kevin Flewitt|Kevin (Barney Rubble) Flewitt]] - Personal shreve *Tom Linthicum, Dave Berman, and Fuzzy Frazer - Sound **Concert Sound by National Sound *Nick Kotos, Mike Weiss, Mark Cherry, John Quinton, Steve Tuck and Robbie Gilchrist - Lighting **Concert Lighting by See Factor International *Tom Whittaker, Pat Lynes, Mac MacLear, Billy Barlow, Richard Owens, Steve Connelly, Al Posner and [[Bill Churchman|Bill (The Red Flash) Churchman]] - Transportation **U.K. Transportation by Edwin Shirley Trucking and Len Wright Travel *Concert Rigging by Bill Collins-Southfire Rigging *The cast and crew of Le Studio, especially André for making the new all-colour Jack Secret Show a reality, Raru Ponce de Leon, Dr. Carl Zbourg, Major Seventh, Lou, Suzanne, Ronnie, [[Bjorn Erlichmann|Bjorn (The Stunned Man) Erlichmann]], Punjabi, Dirk the Cameraman, and Daisy O'Williams and the Dogmatics, The Fabulous Projecting Men, featuring a Chorus of Fools, Nick the Cat, Explosion Magazine, the lovely Rushka, Joe E. Ross - ooh ooh!, the people of Fooland, the Expos, the Great White North, and the members and crew of "FM" for their important comedic and musical support - Öfshnatzen d'Rötz!! - People of the wonderful thing *Max Webster - R.I.P. *This album is dedicated to the world-renowned they (Slider's uncles, Eddie and Glen). Alex's performance in Broon's Bane is dedicated to Elliot. A special tribute to the Glaswegian Chorus for the backround vocals on "Closer to the Heart. Nice one, folks! Our personal thank you to the Griffin family for their wonderfulness, and to the people of NASA for their spectacular launch of the Columbia which we were privileged and thrilled to witness. *Enough said. Well, just a few more words! In seven years of touring we have made many friends in many different places. Some have worked for us, some have cheered for us, and some have just been nice to us. For reasons beyond our comprehension, we have become increasingly more popular, and hence stretched ever more thinly among ever more people. If sometimes we can't give the time they deserve to our friends and loved ones, we hope that they will understand and forgive us. After all, we didn't change, everybody else did! *We also should include a (loose) translation for the new lyrics to the Danforth and Pape section of La Villa Strangiato "Patty-cake, patty cake, Mother's going to buy you shoes, Father's going to buy you socks, Baby's going to have red cheeks." *Executive Production by Moon Records Charts Sales Discography The original CD issue did not include "A Passage to Bangkok" due to time constraints, as CDs could only hold 74 minutes at the time. The track did appear on the original LP, 8-track cartridge and cassette issues, and was later included on the remastered CD, when CD times had increased to 80 minutes. A remaster was issued in 1997. *The tray has a picture of three fingerprints, light blue, pink, and lime green (left to right, mirroring the cover art of Retrospective II) with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to the left. All remasters from Moving Pictures through A Show of Hands are like this. *Includes the track "A Passage to Bangkok" which was left off the original CD issue due to time constraints. 'Compact Disc' 'Vinyl' 'Cassette Tape ' '8-Track ' Singles References *Rush Collector Resources *Rush at Resist *Wog's Rush Page *The Sphere *Discogs *Library and Archives Canada, RPM *swedishcharts.com *BPI *GfK Dutch Charts, http://www.dutchcharts.nl/ *VG Lista, http://lista.vg.no Category:Discography Category:Albums